“Think about that: Kim has so thoroughly monetized the very act of living that the money she earns from being filmed going about her life constitutes a relatively small sum compared with the one she generates from allowing people to see pictures and cartoon drawings of the life she has already filmed. She has figured out how to spin the mundanity of being herself—something billions of people do every day for free—into a more lucrative business than being the most famous rapper in the world.”

On the current state of the global economy and the inevitable decline of the U.K. and the U.S.:

A decade-long slowdown would accelerate this shift in global wealth and power and would be a grim thing to live through, but from a world-historical perspective it might not be a game-changer: it might just be the non-scenic route to the place we’re going anyway.

Outkast’s Andre Benjamin at 42.

You gotta understand, I’ve only written one check in my life. When I was 17, they still had checkbooks, and my mom taught me how to write a check and do my balance. So I had one check on my balance, and then OutKast took off. I have not paid a bill since. People ask, What does it feel like? As humans, we want attention. We want to be validated. At the same time, it’s strange attention, and a lot of it. If you have an excess of anything, it becomes strange.

I remember when you were a little girl, you used to call yourself “peach-brown”. Peach represented your mother, brown represented your father, and together they made peach-brown, a perfect articulation at the time for what you were. The colors came from the crayons you matched to the skin of your parents, and although they were separate and didn’t mix together very well on paper, they were the best you had at the time. This silly little phrase represented what would become a lifelong struggle of coming into your own identity.

“What follows is my attempt, based on a few increasingly hostile exchanges and a close reading of his terrible book, not only to examine why Mariotti is currently jobless but to explain why, in a sane world, he should forever remain that way. I present this as a cautionary tale for other sportswriters, both young and old.”

Possible clues about Lincoln’s murder in the unlikeliest place.

A profile of reporter Jason Leopold, who has reinvented himself after journalistic scandal by becoming what he calls a “FOIA terrorist.”

How governments and private companies have engaged in digital arms trading by building a global black market for ‘zero day’ hacks.

On the Connecticut priest who dealt methamphetamine from his church and ran a sex ring from his apartment.

On the factories of India and the women whose lives they ruin.

The case of a teenager who didn’t kill his classmates—but talked about it.

The congressman (and future Mayor of New York) vs. the South American assassin.

A primer on competitive eating’s premier event, the Hot Dog Eating Contest, which airs today at noon EST:

1: During the allotted period of time, contestants eat as many hot dogs and buns (called "HDBs") as they can. 2: They're allowed to use a beverage of their choice to wash things down. 3: They must stay in full view of their own, personal "Bunnette" scorekeeper. 4: Condiments may be used, but are not required. 5: HDBs that are still in the mouth at the end of the contest only count if they are eventually swallowed. 6: Puking up the hot dogs before the end of the contest (called "a reversal") will result in a disqualification, unless you do something horrific to make up for it (more on this later.)

A tech reporter tells the story of his ruined digital life.

A town ruined by the chemical C8, an ingredient in the making of Teflon.

The photographs that Caesar, a Syrian military photographer, smuggled out of Assad’s death dungeons.

Celebrated doctor Paolo Macchiarini was not all that he seemed.

How Facebook ‘likes’ landed Jelani Henry in Rikers.

The inside story of how Yahoo’s C.E.O. lost her way.

Finding the thread of depression in the personal history of a friend’s suicide.

How the National Enquirer became a 2010 Pulitzer contender without straying from its roots as a supermarket tabloid.

[Part 1 of 2] The story behind this spring’s spate of retributive murders in Southwest D.C.